Exploration House
An Exploration House is a government-subsidized organization that seeks to reclaim parts of the world that were destroyed or left in ruin after the end of the Ending War. Although each individual House has its own take on the mission statement and practices said take differently, each Exploration House ultimately acts in accordance to this philosophy. Origin The first Exploration House, the Order of the Setting Sun, was founded in Osport in 25 PW by Wulfgar Inman. Founded only three years after the world government, the Six Points of Civilization, was established, Inman created this organization with the express interest of providing structure and a positive outlook on life to the disillusioned citizenry that was tasked with rebuilding the world. Within three months of the creation of the Order, it boasted 433 members, and the it drew the attention of the Six. Government officials met with Inman at this time, and offered complete government sponsorship and subsidization, on the grounds that the leaders of the Six Points each had a say in the actions that the Order took. Inman declined this offer, and it is believed that this began his anti-government slant, which is also responsible for his being exiled three years later. Mere weeks after the meeting with Inman, leaders of the Six created the Exploration House Dawnstar in Bridgeport, and placed Pheidon of Bosk, pre-war era war hero, in charge. Around this time the leaders of the Six Points also passed legislation that established rules and regulations for creating Exploration Houses, and refused to recognize any organization that did not meet those standards. To this day, there are 93 recognized Exploration Houses throughout the Six Points, and, as an aggregate, account for 45% of the world economy. Although the creation of new houses has stagnated over the last four years, existing Exploration Houses continue to grow in membership across all of the Six Points. Rules and Regulations In order to establish an Exploration House,the following criteria must be met: * Single Founder: there must be a single founder for the House * Minimum Membership: there must be at least nine other members dedicated to the Exploration House * Central Location: a single building must be listed to be registered as the Meeting House * Mission Statement: the members of the Exploration House must submit an official Mission Statement that expands upon the Mission Statement put forth by Dawnstar * Financial Stability: the founder must submit 60 days' worth of financial records demonstrating that the Exploration House is able to sustain itself financially without any outside aid * Community Value: the founder, as well as all the committed members as of the time of the application, must legally vow to increase the quality of life for their community in some way The criteria will be expanded upon here. Single Founder Although the voices of all the members of an Exploration House matter, the leaders of the Six Points believe that an Exploration House must be founded under a single person's vision. Even though they did not ultimately agree with him or his personal philosophies, the leaders of the Six were greatly influenced by Wulfgar Inman when he founded the Order of the Setting Sun. The founder of an Exploration House is also assumed to be its leader, until official documentation is submitted that says otherwise. Minimum Membership An Exploration House cannot be founded if there are less than ten people (including the founder) who are dedicated to it. Additionally, if an Exploration House is ever listed as having less than ten members, it will have 180 days or until the end of the calendar year (whichever is longer) to gain up to the minimum number of members. In order to keep an accurate eye of the membership of each Exploration House, the leader of each Exploration House must submit an official roster of its membership every 90 days. Additionally, on request, a local government official may have an Exploration House leader within their jurisdiction submit a current unofficial roster. Central Location Each Exploration House must have some building or edifice where the members can meet. This location can change as long as documentation is filed each time a change is desired, but the location must be somewhere that all members can legally access. It is recommended that this location is owned by one of the members (ideally the founder or current leader), but if it is not, the owner of the location must give consent for the Exploration House to use it as their Meeting House. Mission Statement Again influenced by Wulfgar Inman, the leaders of the Six admired the central directive that he set forth when established the Order of the Setting Sun. Although this directive was changed when Dawnstar was established, the leaders of the Six knew that they wanted future Exploration Houses to both be founded under some central goal or ideology, and to have that goal or ideology be rooted in their own goal: to better the quality of life for all those who live within the Six Points . It is acceptable for an Exploration House's Mission Statement to change over time, but it must always be in some accordance to the original Mission Statement put forth by Dawnstar. Financial Stability Although Exploration Houses are subsidized, it is central to the very nature of Exploration Houses that they be expanding in membership, and that is hard to accomplish if the Exploration House is hardly able to financially sustain itself without government help. Therefore, it is required that each budding Exploration House submit financial records for at least the last 60 days that demonstrate its ability to keep itself afloat. Community Value Although each Exploration House's central goal or ideology need not be explicitly about improving the world around it, that is a responsibility that each member must take upon themselves. By far the most abstract of the rules and regulations, this is also the hardest one to enforce. It can be difficult to tell in the short term what kind of impact an Exploration House is having on its community, so in cases where the effects are not immediately obvious, a local government official will submit a report every two years after the official founding of an Exploration House that describes the effect if it is having. If the report describes the House as having a negative effect on the community, it will be disbanded effective immediately. If the report describes the House as having a neutral effect, it will be given until the end of the current calendar year to have a positive effect, at which point the House will undergo normal scrutiny. If the report describes the House as having a positive effect, they will be under normal scrutiny.